Samsung leads globally with 7.9 million smartphone sales in Q1, 2017 even before Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+ launch: IDC

Home > News > Samsung leads globally with 7.9 million smartphone sales in Q1, 2017 even before Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+ launch: IDC Apple, Huawei, Oppo and Vivo took the remaining top five positions in the global smartphone market for the period between January and March 2017.

South Korean giant Samsung Electronics regained the top status in the global smartphone market in the first quarter of the year, even before the release of its flagship Galaxy S8, a report said on Saturday. According to market research firm IDC, the South Korean tech giant sold about 7.9 million smartphones during the January-March period to account for a market share of 22.8 percent. Its US arch rival Apple came in second with a 14.9 percent share.

The latest figure marks a turnaround from the October-December period of 2016, when Apple stood as the top player. Stung by the suspension of the Galaxy Note 7 phablet, Samsung still managed to take up 18.5 percent of the market in the fourth quarter of last year. The company stopped the production of the smartphone following reports of the devices catching fire while charging.

Also, Huawei Technologies, OPPO and Vivo followed Apple and Samsung in the top five, with a combined market share of 22.4 percent in the first quarter this year, up from 18.7 percent tallied a year earlier. Huawei led the pack with a 9.8 percent market share during the same period, nearly posting a double digit market share, the data showed. Oppo followed with a 7.4 percent market share and Vivo with 5.4 per cent, according to the data. ALSO READ: Xiaomi narrows gap with Samsung as India's smartphone market grows at 12% in Q1 2017: Canalys

Pre-orders for its new flagship Galaxy S8 and S8+ devices have reached 80,000 units within a week of the launch in India and are expected to hit 150,000 units by the end of this month. ALSO READ: Huawei beats OPPO to lead China's smartphone market in Q1 2017; Xiaomi under 'increasing' pressure: Canalys

Published: May 1, 2017 9:32 AM IST | Updated: May 1, 2017 9:38 AM IST
Source: Samsung leads globally with 7.9 million smartphone sales in Q1, 2017 even before Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+ launch: IDC

China’s top 3 smartphone makers catching up with Samsung

China's top three smartphone makers, Huawei, Oppo and Vivo, are catching up with the market shares of Samsung and Apple, based on their affordable prices and premium stylings, according to a US research firm.

According to the latest report published by IDC, the combined smartphone shipments by the three Chinese firms increased by 15.5 million units on-year to 77.9 million units in the first quarter. During the same period, Samsung and Apple remained essentially flat with shipments reaching 79.2 million units and 51.6 million units, respectively.

The combined market share of the three Chinese firms increased by 3.7 percentage points on-year to 22.4 percent in the January-March period, while Samsung and Apple's share dropped by 1 percentage point and 0.5 percent point to 22.8 percent and 14.9 percent, respectively.

IDC said the clear winners in the global smartphone market were currently Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo, which have all outpaced market growth for over a year.

"Although we have seen an abundance of premium redesigned flagships that just entered the market, we still expect most of the growth to come from more affordable models in a variety of markets" said Anthony Scarsella, research manager with IDC's worldwide quarterly mobile phone tracker.

The prices of Chinese handsets' premium phones are around half those of Samsung and Apple. Huawei's first premium phone P9, unveiled late last year, is sold for around 600,000 won ($520) and Oppo's flagship model R9 is around 500,000 won. Samsung and Apple's premium phones are sold for around 1 million won.

The report said the world's largest smartphone maker Samsung's strong sales were also driven by affordable models.

"Samsung's affordable models J-series and A-series drove significant volumes in both emerging and developed markets due to flagship-like design at more affordable price points," IDC said.

Also, substantial discounts on the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge helped boost last year's flagship models -- the new S8 and S8 Plus, the company said.

IDC predicted the global smartphone industry would see a rebound this year after suffering a single digit growth of 2.5 percent last year. Prior to the disappointing 2016, the global smartphone market enjoyed double-digit growth for 9 years from 2007 to 2015.

Worldwide smartphone shipments grew 4.3 percent in the first quarter on-year, which was slightly higher than IDC's previous forecast of 3.6 percent growth.

"There is no question that 2016 was a pivotal year for the industry, as growth dipped to low single digits for the first time. However, we believe the industry will show some rebound in 2017, and strong first quarter results certainly support this argument," said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC's worldwide quarterly mobile device trackers.

The report said big flagship announcements from Huawei with the P10 devices and Samsung with the Galax y S8 devices show that innovation is still possible. Despite any formal announcements from Apple, it is safe to say the industry is highly anticipating this year's iPhone announcements, the report said. 

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)

Source: China's top 3 smartphone makers catching up with Samsung

MediaTek sees a tepid Q2 amid sluggish China smartphone demand

TAIPEI -- MediaTek, the largest mobile chip supplier to China, on Friday posted the lowest margins in the Taiwanese company's history for the January-March period, amid ferocious market competition. It also foresees a lukewarm second quarter due to the continuous slowdown in the Chinese smartphone market.

"The Chinese smartphone market is still digesting inventories... we have not yet seen any sign of rebound in weakening Chinese smartphone demand so far in the second quarter," MediaTek Vice Chairman Hsieh Ching-jiang told analysts during an earnings conference.

"After a year of robust growth in 2016, we will not see that kind of expansion in 2017, though we do think things will improve in the second half of this year," said Hsieh.

Mediatek's revenue for all 2016 surged more than 29% year-on-year to 275.51 billion New Taiwan dollars ($9.11 billion).

Hsieh said the global smartphone market would grow in the single digits to sales of about 1.6 billion to 1.7 billion units for all 2017, adding that the conditions were "challenging" and that Mediatek still needed to "work very hard" to keep up with average growth levels for the industry.

The growth driver for MediaTek in the second quarter would mainly come from consumer electronic devices such as Amazon's Echo Dot, a voice-controlled smart speaker, according to Hsieh.

For the April-June period, the company projected revenue would be between NT$56.1 billion and NT$60.6 billion, down substantially by between 16.4% and 22.6% from a year ago. The company estimated that its gross margin would improve slightly in the same period to be between 32.5% and 35.5%.

For the three months ending in March, MediaTek generated revenue of NT$56.08 billion, increasing 0.32% year-on-year. However, the company's gross margin and operating profit margin both plunged to record lows of only 33.5% and 2.2% in the period.

The Taiwanese company has been facing a mounting challenge from U.S. rival Qualcomm in the high-end chip segment for premium phones, while its profit was also squeezed by Chinese state-backed competitor Spreadtrum Communications in mid-to-low end product lines.

MediaTek's net profit, on the other hand, increased more than 48% to NT$6.63 billion in the January-March period mainly boosted by gains from the disposal of Chinese subsidiary AutoChips and investment gains from companies such as Goodix, China's No.1 fingerprint chipmaker.

Management reshuffle

In early March, the chip design house based in the Taiwanese city of Hsinchu announced the appointment of Rick Tsai, former chief executive of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest contract chipmaker, as its new co-chief executive and board member.

The company's recent management reshuffle was part of its efforts to overhaul its long-term product strategy and improve profitability.

Analysts said MediaTek could lose some market share in China this year to the world's No.1 mobile chip provider Qualcomm.

"We expected MediaTek's chipset shipments could decrease some 40 million to 50 million units in China compared with last year... these orders are very likely to go to Qualcomm," said Roger Sheng, an analyst at research company Gartner.

MediaTek shipped between 530 million and 550 million chipset units globally for both smartphones and tablets in 2016, according to the company.

But overall, its global market share in mobile processor chips will only slide a little, from 31% in 2016 to around 28% to 30% this year, as it gained orders to supply Samsung Electronics' mid-to-low-end phones. This could bring in up to 30 million units of orders in 2017, according to Sheng.

Separately, the first half of 2017 also looks dim for Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, the world's largest chip assembler and a key Apple supplier, mainly due to a slowdown in the mobile sector and traditional low seasons for the industry.

Joseph Tung, ASE's chief financial officer, said there would be some product launch delays of Android phones in the second quarter and inventory adjustment from Chinese smartphone makers, adding that all of these reasons lead to soft first and second quarters.

Tung said demand would pick up substantially in the third quarter when there are new product launches with some flagship phones, meaning the outlook for the second half of this year is much more brisk.

For the first quarter of 2017, ASE's revenue advanced 7% to NT$66.55 billion while its net profit dropped 34% to NT$2.56 billion. Tung attributed the slide in net income to unfavorable forex conditions and increasing costs due to stricter labor laws in Taiwan.

Source: MediaTek sees a tepid Q2 amid sluggish China smartphone demand

Oppo R11 smartphone now gets 3C certification in China

By: Rishi Chawla, The Mobile Indian, New Delhi

Last updated : Friday, April 28, 2017 - 11:50

Meanwhile, few images of Oppo R11's cases were also doing rounds online showing the device's rear dual camera set-up position.

Oppo R11 smartphone, which was recently spotted in a few real life images, affirming the dual rear camera module with LED flash, now reportedly got the necessary 3C certification in China, which indicates the the launch of the said smartphone is around the corner.Meanwhile, few images of Oppo R11's cases were also doing rounds online showing the device's rear dual camera set-up position.Earlier in this month, a new smartphone by Oppo was spotted on the bench marking website, GFXBench. The smartphone listed has a model name "Oppo R6051' and as per the various reports from China, this smartphone could be launched as Oppo R11.

As per the previous listing, the Oppo R6051 aka Oppo R11 features a 5.5-inch Full HD display with a screen resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. Under the hood, the smartphone is powered by 2.2GHz octa-core Qualcomm ARMv8 processor (could be Snapdragon 660) along with Qualcomm Adreno 510 GPU. The smartphone is backed by a 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage.

On the camera front, the device sports a good 20-megapixel front-facing camera for selfies and a 16-megapixel rear camera (could bear a dual camera setup) with autofocus, face detection, HDR and flash. The smartphone runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. Besides, the smartphone offers WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, Accelerometer, Barometer, Digital compass, Gyroscope, Light sensor and Proximity.

Source: Oppo R11 smartphone now gets 3C certification in China

DOOGEE Smartphone Colors: They’re many and forward looking!

Every year there seems to be new trend as far as phone colors go, it began with the first iPhone in Rose Gold which was then followed by dozens of devices with the same or similar color. DOOGEE, albeit it is a Chinese phone maker based in Honk Kong still cooperates with Spanish designers, which is why some of their devices look better than the competition and are somewhat fashionable, a good move to attract younger generations, nonetheless.

With this in mind, let's have a look at all the different colored devices DOOGEE has launched or plans to launch in the foreseeable future.

Let's begin with the black color, which has been made trending by Apple with their latest iPhone 7. Other manufacturers like DOOGEE on the MIX or Nubia on the Z17 mini have then perfectioned it with golden lines around the body, which definitely makes them stand out from the bunch. The DOOGEE MIX in particular will be also glossy, so that may appeal to some people.

Once again, Apple with the Red version of the iPhone 7 launched in March, has moved Chinese manufacturers to adopt this color on their devices. Surprisingly enough DOOGEE had already launched a Red version of the DOOGEE Y6 back in February. The only difference is that the Y6 uses a slightly different version of red called Agata Red. The color and its design make a phone very suitable for girls.

Then we have green, this color is one of the lasts to rise, with the Huawei P10 and Oppo R9s, also DOOGEE launched a green phone almost at the same time. The DOOGEE phone does feature a brushed effect though, not present on the other two.

Coral blue are also getting somewhat popular from the launch of the Samsung S7. DOOGEE will adopt this color on their upcoming bezel-less DOOGEE MIX. The MIX will also comes with a silver metal frame (instead of blue) to spice things up.

Lastly, we have the sapphire blue. A color that we've seen on the Huawei Honor 8 from last here. The DOOGEE MIX will also be available in this new color they call Aurora Blue with a glossy back just like the Honor 8.

What do you guys think of these color variants? Which color would you like your smartphone to be? Drop a comment below to let us know!

Related

Source: DOOGEE Smartphone Colors: They're many and forward looking!

Huawei regains smartphone lead in China in Q1

Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei recaptured the lead in China's smartphone market in Q1, boosting its market share to 18 per cent after increasing shipments 25 per cent year-on-year, according to Canalys.

After spending two quarters in second place behind Oppo, Huawei shipped nearly 21 million units in the quarter (see chart below, click to enlarge), the research company revealed.Despite growing 55 per cent year-on-year in Q1, Oppo fell to second with shipments of just under 20 million units. Third-placed Vivo had the slowest growth of the top three (23 per cent) and captured a 15 per cent share with shipment of 17 million units.

China's smartphone market continued to expand in the opening quarter of 2017 despite rising penetration. Canalys estimates 114 million smartphones shipped in China in the quarter, an increase of 9 per cent year-on-year.

Canalys research analyst Lucio Chen noted it is clear the market is consolidating. "The top three vendors are pulling away at the head of the market, accounting for more than 50 per cent of shipments for the first time this quarter."

In the corresponding quarter a year ago, Huawei led, with Vivo second and Oppo fourth, together accounting for 42 per cent of the market. At the time Xiaomi occupied third place, but by the recent quarter had fallen to fifth behind Apple on shipments of just over 9 million units.

Xiaomi faces increasing pressure from Huawei's online efforts with the Honor line, as well as Oppo and Vivo, whose marketing activities have been taking attention away from Xiaomi, said Canalys research analyst Mo Jia. "To grow Xiaomi will need to quickly switch from being a value-for-money vendor to become an aspirational brand."

Source: Huawei regains smartphone lead in China in Q1

Gionee M6S Plus Launched in China with 6020mAh Battery and 6GB RAM

Gionee has launched the Gionee M6S Plus in China, the Gionee Marathon series has been known for its mammoth battery. The Gionee M6S Plus has upped the ante with a 6020mAh battery along with 6GB of RAM. The Gionee M6S will be available in a 64GB and 256GB variant, the 64GB variant will cost CNY 3,499 (Rs 32,743) while the 256GB variant will cost CNY 4,299(Rs 40,299). The smartphone will start selling in China from May 2.

The Gionee M6S comes equipped with a 6-inch FHD Oncell AMOLED display and is powered by Snapdragon 653 clocked at 1.95GHz and paired with 6GB of RAM. The fingerprint sensor is blended into the home screen and the phone is pretty bulky at 215 gms. On the imaging front, the Gionee M6S Plus comes equipped with a 12-Megapixel primary sensor with LED flash and the secondary is made up of an 8-Megapixel sensor.

Connectivity options on the Gionee M6S include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, Micro-USB 2.0, USB OTG and GPS. Gionee further claims that it has baked in the new feature that will enable an additional layer of security while transacting on the phone. Yet another mention worthy feature is that the fingerprint sensor also records the user's heart rate and this is something that will go a long way to prevent fingerprint frauds. The Gionee M6S runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow flavored with the Amigo 3.5 OS.

As we mentioned earlier the Gionee M6S Plus is backed by a huge 6020mAh battery which supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0. The Gionee M6S is a formidable choice for users who are looking out for large displays along with a staggering battery backup that will keep them going without craving for a charging point. It would be interesting to see how Gionee would position the M6S in India once it's announced here.

Source: Gionee M6S Plus Launched in China with 6020mAh Battery and 6GB RAM

Top five best-selling smartphone brands

Huawei has retained its title of selling the most smartphones in China during the first quarter of this year, according to an industry report.

Samsung dropped out of the top five, accounting for just 5.9 percent of sales in China in the first three months. Apple ranked fourth, according to figures released by mobile data provider Jiguang.

Analysts predicted competition would ramp up as the country's smartphone market becomes saturated. Product updates and replacements will replace sales of new phones as the market's driving force.

Research firm GfK projects sales of smartphones will reach 493 million in 2017, up 4.8 percent year-on-year.

Let's take a look at the top five smartphone vendors in the first quarter compiled by Jiguang.

5. Xiaomi

Market share: 8.2%

Xiaomi launches its first self-developed chip S1 at China National Convention Center in Beijing, Feb 28, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

Source: Top five best-selling smartphone brands

Xiaomi launches flagship Mi 6 smartphone in China

Xiaomi has officially launched its flagship phone for 2017, the Xiaomi Mi 6.

It's powered by an octa-core 2.45GHz processor and features a whopping 6GB RAM, and an Adreno 540 graphics processing unit which it claims to offer 25% performance improvement, and supports the latest Vulkan graphics API (Application Program Interface) commonly found in the latest generation flagship devices.

Xiaomi Mi 6 smartphone will certainly be popular as it offers a high-end chipset and plenty of new features and does so while having an affordable price tag.

There's no 3.5mm headphone port onboard, so you'll need to either connect a pair of headphones to the USB Type-C port, or use a wireless Bluetooth pair. In terms of Camera the Xiaomi Mi6 is having a dual-lens setup which is very anicipated and 12MP wide, angle with a 12MP Telephoto camera which allows the user to have 2 times zoom lossless.

Xiaomi is set to introduce the new Mi 6 smartphone in China tomorrow. I mean you take the features, the price structure, etc it's killing the Indian market as in the market of the other big brand smartphone's, don't take me the other way! If we were to judge from what we've previously seen from Xiaomi, then we think the Mi 6 will truly live up to its reputation. The story is not different with this year's Xiaomi Mi 6 as far as the Galaxy S8 is concerned.

There's also optical image stabilization and 4K video recording. As detailed earlier, the smartphone is available in Black, White and Blue color standard versions as well as two special versions, Ceramic and Silver. The battery capacity is 3350 mAh. As for selfies, an 8-megapixel camera should be enough for snapping great self-portraits.

The fingerprint sensor is embedded underneath the front glass layer. The Xiaomi Mi 6 will be up for grabs from April 28 in China, and it will be accessible through Mi.com, Mi Home stores and some of Xiaomi's retail accomplices. Today the company announced its latest flagship smartphone, the Mi 6, which rivals flagships from LG, Samsung, and Apple.

A Mi 6 variant with a ceramic back panel and 128GB of storage will sell for 2999 yuan ($435).

It will, of course, run Android 7.1.1 Nougat with the company's own MIUI on top.

Source: Xiaomi launches flagship Mi 6 smartphone in China

This guy built his own iPhone from parts he bought in China

If you could, would you make your own phone? Like if you could purchase all the parts that make up a phone, would you like to build one? Regardless of what your answer is, you should know that it is possible to build your own iPhone from scratch.

play

Scotty Allen with the iPhone he built.

(Mashable)

 

Scotty Allen used to be a developer in Silicon Valley but these days, he spends his time travelling the world and just doing stuff. His latest adventure took him to Shenzhen, China, where he built his own like-new iPhone from parts he bought in the markets of Huaqiangbei, where all kinds of cellphone parts are available over-the-counter.

The best part of this story is the video Scotty made on the whole process. He was inspired to build an entire iPhone (which is freaking epic!) when he was at a barbecue joint in China and someone said, "I wonder if you could build your own phone."

ALSO READ: A new estimate says Samsung's Galaxy S8 costs much more to make than Apple's iPhone 7

He says he wasn't sure the merchants would sell him some of the parts over the counter but he eventually built the iPhone from scratch, albeit with a few hiccups. He also decided to build an iPhone 6s rather than the more recent iPhone 7 because he already owned an iPhone 6s and would make for better comparison. Also, iPhone 7 parts weren't as readily available as well.

play

Parts Scotty Used in building his own iPhone 6s from scratch.

(Mashable)

 

In making the iPhone, Scotty used four main parts: Screen, logic board, battery and shell. He said the iPhone he built had parts worth $300 — for comparison,a brand new entry iPhone 6s from Apple costs about $549. 

"I never really thought much about what happens when I get rid of a phone," Allen said in the video. "I think a lot of them end up here, taken apart for parts or turned back into nice working phones."

Stories like this are amazing because they are borne of human curiosity. People innovate, push boundaries and question the norm just to see what can be achieved. Salute to Scotty! If you are a maker in Nigeria, please feel free to reach out to us, and maybe we can tell the world stories about cool stuff you've built. 

In the meantime, check out Scotty's iPhone building process in the video above. 

Source: This guy built his own iPhone from parts he bought in China

WATCH: 2017 Smartphone Photo Contest Awards Party

Some fine lads and ladies came out to our first ever smartphone photography contest awards ceremony held earlier this month at Sky Hall on Party Pier. 

Finalists saw enlarged versions of their photos exhibited around the room, while free-flow beer, wine and snacks kept guests loose and in the mood to mingle. Huawei's P10 smartphone experience booth was pretty sweet too.

Want to see just how good you all looked that night? Watch the video recap here (VPN off): 

Stay tuned to our website and WeChat accounts (ThatsGuangzhou and ThatsShenzhen) for news about upcoming contests later this year.

Have cool photos of the PRD and South China? Connect with us on Instagram @ThatsPRD or tag #thatsprd for a chance to be featured on our feed or in the City Snapshot column of our magazine.

Hats off to our amazing sponsors, it wouldn't have been possible without you!

Platinum Sponsors: Huawei, Zapatas, Chile, FIJI Water, Goose Island, Pearl River Beer, Viking Beer and Feel More Bagels

Gold Sponsors:The Westin Guangzhou, Marriott Hotel Shunde and Dolphins Photo Studio

And last, but certainly not least, a major thanks to our deck master DJ Tangen for the groovy music.

Source: WATCH: 2017 Smartphone Photo Contest Awards Party

China's LeEco plans sale of $420 mln Beijing real estate - sources

By Jess Macy Yu and Julie Zhu | TAIPEI/HONG KONG, April 20

Chinese tech conglomerate LeEco is in talks to sell a prized property asset in the heart of Beijing it acquired in a $420 million deal last year, the latest effort by the electric car-to-smartphone behemoth to raise funds amid a severe cash crunch.

The company plans to sell either all or a majority of its Shimao Gongsan retail property in a popular area on the east side of Beijing by divesting from two firms it owns, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said. LeEco has been in talks with potential investors for some months now, the first person said.

Reuters could not immediately ascertain the identity of the potential investors or the likely deal price, but one of the people said the discussions are in an advanced stage and the price likely will be higher than what LeEco paid for it.

LeEco, centred around a Netflix-like video platform operated by its listed unit, has been one of China's boldest tech firms, ambitiously pushing into the U.S. market and looking to take on Elon Musk's Tesla Motors in high-end electric vehicles.

The firm's wide spread, however, led its billionaire founder and Chief Executive Jia Yueting to admit in November that it was facing "big company disease" and battling a cash crunch after expanding too fast.

The firm is now reining in its spending, looking to sell property in the United States and scrapping this month a $2 billion deal to acquire U.S. TV maker Vizio.

The two people said LeEco hoped to sell the 50,000 square metre Beijing property in the Sanlitun district by divesting from two firms it owns - Beijing Fortune Times Property Co Ltd and Beijing Baiding New Century Business Management Co Ltd.

LeEco bought the firms, which control the property, for a combined 2.92 billion yuan ($424.15 million) in May last year from Shimao Property Holdings Ltd.

The planned sale would free up funds to allow LeEco to revert focus to its core businesses, particularly its smartphones, TV, LeSports unit, and auto segments, the two people said.

LeEco declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

BACK TO THE CORE

CEO Jia has pledged to pay more attention to the listed business, Leshi Internet Technology & Information, which operates entertainment platform LeTV, and would look to integrate other parts of the business into that unit.

The second person said the plans to sell the Beijing property were "part of rationalizing the core businesses". Both sources asked not to be named as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

LeEco has investments from sports rights to taxi hailing platform Yidao Yongche as well as business units focused on smartphones, online entertainment to household appliances.

Earlier this week Yidao's founder Zhou Hang said he had left his managerial role of the ride-hailing unit and alleged LeEco, which owns a 70 percent stake in Yidao, had "misappropriated" 1.3 billion yuan ($188.84 million) of Yidao's funds to cover its debts. LeEco later denied the allegation in a statement.

In February LeEco's sports unit also lost the television rights to the Asian Football Confederation matches, after reports that it had fallen behind on payments. The firm said then it had "let down" its users.

The second person said the firm would still look to expand internationally, but would do so with "more discipline".

LeEco has also cut staff in China, the United States and India. Local media said it was scaling back plans in Russia.

Trading in shares of the listed unit, which posted a 3 percent drop in 2016 net profit on Wednesday, is currently halted. ($1 = 6.8843 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Jess Macy Yu in TAIPEI and Julie Zhu in HONG KONG; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Source: China's LeEco plans sale of $420 mln Beijing real estate - sources

Xiaomi Mi 6 with Snapdragon 835 SoC, 6GB RAM launched in China: Price, specifications, features

Home > News > Xiaomi Mi 6 with Snapdragon 835 SoC, 6GB RAM launched in China: Price, specifications, features By Deepali Moray | Updated: April 19, 2017 1:13 PM IST Email @deepalimoray comments Tags: Samsung Galaxy s8 xiaomi Xiaomi Mi 6 News

Xiaomi took wraps off its anticipated Mi 6 flagship smartphone today at an event in China. The home country has not been very kind to the manufacturer, which saw its shares crumbling owing to strong competition from other Chinese players such as Huawei, OPPO, and Vivo. 

Among the talking points of the Xiaomi Mi 6 is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC – the same chipset that powers the Samsung Galaxy S8 — along with a new design and dual-camera setup. Built using the newer 10nm fabrication process, the chipset is said to offer higher performance and a better battery life. As rumored, the smartphone further packs in 6GB of LPDDR4 RAM, and Adreno 540 GPU. For those immediately looking out to see if the Mi 6 is at par with the Galaxy S8 with same configuration, Xiaomi revealed the AnTuTu benchmark scores of the smartphone, which places it notches above the Samsung's flagship device. The Mi 6 achieves a score of 184,292, while the Galaxy S8 stands at 164,095.

What helped Xiaomi taste immediate success was the premium experience it offered at a much lesser price when compared to incumbent players. While Xiaomi tried to aim for success, it had larger-than-achievable targets. The company not only missed these targets, but also lost one of its key executives Hugo Barra on its way. Xiaomi Mi 6, being the first flagship smartphone after Barra's exit, also serves as an important case study for analysts to gauge how much of a value Barra's presence brought to the company. It exceptionally well, not only in China, but also achieved the trust factor in countries such as India where it is counted as one of the leading smartphone brands.

In 2016, Xiaomi's smartphone sales in its home country fell by an alarming 40 percent in the second quarter as compared to the year before. With the Mi 6, Xiaomi not only aims to reach the same level of performance consumers expect out of a high-end premium device, but with an aggressive pricing, stand a chance to prove its mirth again in the crowded smartphone market. It is available in color choices of blue, black, and silver. It is unclear as to when the flagship product will mark its entry in India, where incidentally the Samsung Galaxy S8 is being launched today.

Xiaomi Mi 6 features and specifications

In terms of design, the Xiaomi Mi 6 features a stainless steel border running on the edges with a curved glass body. With the reflective mirror-like finish and the curved panel, the Mi 6 looks similar to the recently launched Honor 8. The placement of the dual camera module is also similar to what we have seen on the Honor 8. The Mi 6 features a home button on the front panel that doubles up as a fingerprint sensor and is said to be 'non-porous'. This essentially makes the structure of the home button more durable and resistant to soiling.

In a bid to thin down their devices, manufacturers are increasingly choosing to ditch the headphone jack. The Xiaomi Mi 6 also opts out of the standard 3.5mm headphone jack for a USB Type-C port for charging, data transfer, as well as audio. Speaking about audio, the smartphone comes with dual-speakers that help in getting a stereo sound effect. In terms of physical buttons, the volume rockers and power button are placed on the right side while the left features the SIM tray. Xiaomi says that not only is the smartphone splash-resistant, but the SIM tray is also sealed to protect internal components from damage.

Now, if we look back to the year 2016, Xiaomi had cleared the air about adding water resistant capabilities to its smartphones. The reason given by Xiaomi founder Lei Jun was that when a smartphone falls down and gets damaged, the waterproofing capabilities also tend to deteriorate and if users accidentally happen to drop the smartphone, the sealant used to resist water from entering the circuit board may not work as expected. It appears that the company is finally trying to catch up with the industry trend where durability, along with design aesthetics, have taken precedence.

With a strong focus on its 3D glass design, Xiaomi has put equal emphasis on the display of the Mi 6. It packs a 5.15-inch screen, and is powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 835 SoC.

The USP of the otherwise familiar looking smartphone is its camera. At the back is a dual-camera setup — 12-megapixel wide-angle lens with 4-axis OIS + 12-megapixel telephoto lens. This setup is not unlike what is available on the Apple iPhone 7 Plus. Speaking about iPhone 7 Plus, the Mi 6 also comes with a dedicated Portrait Mode, which aids in clicking photos with blurred background. The Mi 6 For selfie lovers, there's an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. The rear camera also supports 4K video recording. Fuelling the Mi 6 is a 3,350mAh battery with support for Quick Charge 4.0. On the software front, the smartphone runs Android Nougat out-of-the-box with MIUI layered above.

Developing…

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Published: April 19, 2017 12:53 PM IST | Updated: April 19, 2017 1:13 PM IST

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हिन्दी खबरें स्मार्टफोन बाजार में भारत के 'संरक्षणवाद' के खिलाफ कार्रवाई कर सकता है चीन: चीन का अखबार अब गूगल मैप हो गया है और भी हाईटैक: आपकी दिनचर्या पर भी रखेगा नजर अमेजन इंडिया की समर सेल में इन प्रोडेक्ट्स पर मिल रहा भारी डिस्काउंट फ्लिपकार्ट पर चल रही लेनोवो डे सेल का आज आखरी दिन, इन प्रोडक्टस पर मिल रही है भारी छूट केबल के लिए एक ही वाहिनी की प्रायोगिक परियोजना

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Source: Xiaomi Mi 6 with Snapdragon 835 SoC, 6GB RAM launched in China: Price, specifications, features

China's Transsion launches Tecno smartphones in Punjab

Chandigarh, Apr 18 () China's Transsion Holdings today announced the launch of its smartphones under the Tecno brand here as the company seeks to gain significant market share in the already competitive mobile handset market.

Priced between Rs 7,990 and Rs 14,999, the company rolled out four models i5, i5 Pro, i3 and i3 pro in Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

"We today launched smartphones under Tecno brand, which is in mid to premium segment," Arif Chowdhury, Vice President, Transsion Holdings said here today.

"Our 'i' series has been designed for India and made for India," Chowdhury said, adding that the company had conducted research to know Indian customers' requirements before launching phones.

He said the phones are equipped with image processing technology Pixelex that allows brighter night photography.

"The software algorithm of the camera is optimised as per Indian consumer localised needs in terms of skin tone, colour preference, contrast etc.

Besides, the smartphones are also equipped with an anti- oil fingerprint sensor that provides hassle free access to the phone under all Indian lifestyle and weather conditions," he said.

Chowdhury said the phones will be available offline as the company will sell them through 10,000 stores in three states. The company would later go for pan India launch, he said.

To a query, Chowdhury said India is a competitive market for mobile handsets. "But, if we give real value to customers, we have the opportunity here," he said, adding that the company intended to lead in these states.

He said Tecno phones have latest Android 7.0 Nougat and come with bigger batteries to ensure uninterrupted usage in terms of web browsing, reading or even consuming video content.

According to the company, the smartphones have rocket charging that reduces the charging time by at least 20 per cent. CHS BAL
Source: China's Transsion launches Tecno smartphones in Punjab

OPPO R9S is Top Selling Smartphone by a Chinese Manufacturer

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A survey result by Sino research has shown that the OPPO R9S released late last year is the most popular domestic smartphone brand in China. The R9S outpaced popular brands like the iPhone 7 and has a single phone market share of 5%. In terms of popularity, the OPPO R9S is followed by Vivo X9 and then iPhone 7 and others.

The survey also showed that 78.7% of young phone users between the age of 18 – 23 years prefer the R9S and as a result, the OPPO smartphone has the highest sales in Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai. Also interesting of note is the trend where iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 users replaced their phones with the R9S.

Read Also: OPPO Goes Green, OPPO R9S Gets A Fresh New Color Variant

Before this latest report, the OPPO R9S has been a high flying model, revealed to have grossed over 3 million units in sales in January 2017 alone. The OPPO R9S isn't a very cheap smartphone, priced at 2799 Yuan ($416) but its great design and rich specs lineup make it a hot selling piece. The company has continued to refresh the line in order to make it more appealing to more persons by adding a red variant and recently a fresh green colour variant.

As a reminder, the R9S comes with a 16MP Sony IMX398 sensor at the rear, which is said to be jointly developed by OPPO and Sony. The sensor is reportedly fast and comparable to SLR camera speeds and there is also dual-core focus as well as dual LED flash on board. The R9S is powered by a Snapdragon 625 chipset backed by a 4GB RAM and there is 64GB storage among other features.

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Jed John

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Writer at Gizmochina with keen interest in Tech gadgets including smartphones, VR, drones, AR, and lots. Follow me on Twitter - @jedi_ikoba or on Google+ Jed Ikoba

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Source: OPPO R9S is Top Selling Smartphone by a Chinese Manufacturer